The public sentiment surrounding the anti-corruption protests in the Philippines is characterized by widespread anger and frustration towards the government, particularly President Marcos. Many comments express strong demands for accountability and systemic change, with overwhelming support for peaceful protests. However, concerns about potential violence and skepticism regarding the protests' motives are also present, indicating a complex emotional landscape as citizens call for justice against corruption.

Philippine Government

President Ferdinand Marcos

Protestors

I can give some context as a Filipino to what started it.

&gt;Over 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) for flood-control projects were embezzled, leaving ineffective defenses that worsened deadly floods in 2025 and outrage exploded after the daughter of a rich contractor went online mocking ordinary people as “average joes.”

Stannis_Loyalist

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable.

John F. Kennedy

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

Benjamin franklin

Working-Section-7493

It’s a bit of an exaggeration, at least for now, the night is still young and people are restless so who knows. 

The violent moments were very isolated cases and have all been attributed to anarchists and opportunists, and they all took place in areas of the city that the protests weren’t planned to go to (this was a protest planned weeks in advance). There are reports of one of them potentially being fatal, and was related to police retaliation, but reliable info is scarce with multiple conflicting info, though the place where it happened has long since deescalated (it’s literally a few minutes walk from where I live but my place is eerily quiet). 

The vast majority of the protests were very peaceful. An international pole vaulting event in a park near the rallies even went on without issues, all the trains were running as usual, and malls were still operating normally, even the ones next to the major rally points.

Edit: It’s 8 in the morning here now, and people getting back to work. The only major damage was to a budget hotel lobby where it was broken into and looted.

YZJay

I asked my aunt about corruption in the Philippines and she said “corruption is in our blood.” Which makes sense since they voted in the son of the man who stole everything from the Philippines and never returned it.

No-Sandwich308

LtSoba

Blatant corruption while under a Marcos regime. What year is it? 

weealex

Wow, history's just repeating itself, huh? 🤔

zaplara

Bangladesh

Protests start: July 2024 (student quota protests)

Prime Minister resignation &amp; escape: Sheikh Hasina – 5 August 2024, fled to India

Nepal

Protests start: early September 2025 (“Gen Z protests”, social media ban, anti-corruption)

Prime Minister resignation &amp; escape: K. P. Sharma Oli – 9 September 2025, fled to army barracks

Philippinen  
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xTCHx

This seems to be spreading. First was Nepal.

tabrizzi

Marcos Sr is still the Guinness world record holder for the most corrupt man ever.

His son is now the democratically elected president 

Yeah I would think there would be some corruption issues.

Plussydestroyer

Sea_Sense32

Interesting that anti-corruption protests only headlines on my feed when it turns "violent", just like every other protest 🤔

Unco_Slam

Next is usa.. then will trigger martial law then other events leading to ww3

zombiepoon

This isn’t the first time the Filipinos kicked out an administration for corruption.

RedKings1028

GuttiG

Brace yourselves as the Senate is about to open another envelope, before a revolt larger than this could shake the country, like 20 years ago. 

The lower house of Congress has not even made an action to investigate the lawmakers involved. 

EDSA 4 is Coming.

kinofil

First Nepal, now Philippines. This year is getting crazy with people getting sick of corrupt leadership.

50centourist

I was there when they forced the Marcos family out of the country. People have a threshold.

Poesghost

Just looked at my country and fucking sighed. Americans are like the kid that gets bullied and says "Hey! That's mean 🥺" while getting shoved in a fucking locker. 

Traditional-Gap3690

Who would have thought that the comically corrupt guy would be corrupt.

Sigh...we are becoming dumber for real.

Yakassa

the riot was not part of the protests. these are from separate locations. the rioters were Duterte supporters hijacking the days events in case you people want to celebrate preemptively.

MercurialDancingCat

Let’s go 🫡.
Just gotta wait for India’s youth to get their blood boiling someday!

LowTraditional2973

Let’s go pinoy, copy Indonesia and Nepal, get them all!

AdAccomplished4359

Why would the US foment a color revolution in a country where we already have a puppet government in place?


You guys know the NED shit got defunded, right? This is what happens when we STOP throwing money at compradors.

blkirishbastard

Do you know anything at all about the Philippines? Because if you do you will know the hatred for the government is real and grassroots. People are dying on the streets to police gunfire right now, this is not a damn colour revolution. Stop thinking everything that happens is the CIA, the CIA would not pay protesters to fight against corrupt politicians who are already open to american bribes and will happily sell out their people to the highest bidder.

These protests are the result of material conditions getting worse and worse in a way unimaginable to westerners. Combine that with the recent heavy flooding, in which it was revealed that the government and contractors have embezzled all the billions spent on anti-flooding measures and also embezzled the insurance funds meant to compensate victims. People are being murdered, they are fighting back.

UndercoverPotato

People's life is become worse and worse, but people have been trained not to see any solutions outside of neoliberalism (and the only solution it can offer is fighting corruption).

Collatz_problem

DAE think the freemasons are behind this "storming the Bastille" nonsense?

kitti-kin

I think people just get really pumped up and decide if they can do it there we can do it here.

No-Sail-6510

I don't think PH is manufactured, they didn't show the Manga Flag yet.

leeyiankun

Critical support for fascist leader Bong Bong Marcos

canon_aspirin

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Obligatory glory to the New Peoples Army and the Communist Party of the Phiippines

isTHISname_taken_

i hope this doesnt get infiltrated by the CIA like in nepal

CleoCommunist

Wait one guy has a communist hoodie? I don't know much bout the current communist influence in Phillipines except for the protacted war

TupacWasTheBest

I wonder if the National Democratic Front (NDF) is involved

Comrade-Paul-100

Hopefully a glorious win that will involve the npa

iamapataticloser240

As I see it, there will come a day where capitalism will be viewed similar to feudalism: something that may have been beneficial at some point in time, but should never happen again.

Sucro3K

JediSun

Well, I suppose all the dust they kicked up in Nepal and Indonesia was eventually gonna blow downwind.

CosmicTangerines

Pinoy here and I will provide more context to some of the protests here:

Various progressive orgs decided to basically organize peaceful rallies on September 21 in various venues. One in Luneta Park (the side in which Jose Rizal was executed, the esteemed national hero), and two other venues being the People Power Monument and the "EDSA Shrine", all located in EDSA (a long road encircling Manila).

The crowds were mixed, it was filled with pro-Duterte supporters, liberals, socdems from Akbayan, and those in the natdem left (the far-left). Many popular local celebrities and popular leftist activists also joined alongside the rally in solidarity.

The violent protests that happened in this video, happened in Mendiola, which is a street that is close to the Malacañang (Mendiola is like the Filipino Pennsylvania Avenue equivalent and the Malacañang is the Filipino equivalent of the White House). The protests in Mendiola were originally coming from Luneta, and it was planned to be peaceful. But then tensions arose as the protesters were nearing the police, and organizers from Bayan tried to calm down the tension, but it failed since so many people were tired and angry of the oppression.

Some assumed that they were supporters of Duterte as the crowd as some were chanting his name and some. But regardless if they are actually Duterte supporters, the point is that they were incredibly militant against the police. They are still proIetarians at the end of the day fighting back against the state. And because they were Duterte supporters, some online liberals began slandering against them 🙄

There was a point in the protests in which they broke the barriers, and I was honestly really rooting for them to storm the Malacañang lmao because they were close, but the energy sadly quelled down and many protests. But this isn't the end of the protests though, peaceful or not, this is just the beginning ✊

There would definitely be more protests to be planned in the coming days since the government hasn't yet been held accountable. So the revolutionary spirit wouldn't be watered down yet.

(Picture of Mendiola Street before the protests became violent)

https://preview.redd.it/zw46s05vyjqf1.jpeg?width=2048&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=7ee77fa2b3674cb9f177b332749bef2206322377

KapitanCap

https://preview.redd.it/mbenqbb79kqf1.jpeg?width=1001&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=6a318bee08fbdb044bd6a4576db6f3027cd72d92

When I saw that guy wearing hammer and sickle shirt 🫡🚩

MrRaptorPlays

Liberals who were at the bougie locations of the protest near malls and churches were pearl clutching at these scenes. They were happy with their “witty” signs sipping milk tea, watching celebrities on stage.

frozenelf

I was wondering why so much anti-China shit was on the news lately specifically from the Philippines. Last night, they were fearmongering about the “Chinese expansionist nuclear threat in the Philippines…” so I guess it’s to distract from this

Fenix246

The poverty in the Philippines is some of the worst I've ever seen anywhere in the world, I'm surprised this hasn't happened sooner.

Eating scraps out of the garbage has literally become an industry among those who live in the slums. They dig through massive piles of garbage, find 2 day old, half eaten chicken, clean it off and cook it to sell to others in the slums because that's all they can afford. 

It's horrific, people should not be living like that. 

I wish the communist insurgents were successful in overthrowing the Filipino government long ago.

KeepItASecretok

So they gunna let CIA goons turn it into a colour revolution?

dreamlikeradiofree

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in the Philippine capital on Sunday to express their outrage over a corruption scandal involving lawmakers, officials and businesspeople who allegedly pocketed huge kickbacks from flood-control projects in the poverty-stricken and storm-prone Southeast Asian country.


Police forces and troops were put on alert to prevent any outbreak of violence. Thousands of police officers were deployed to secure separate protests in a historic Manila park and near a democracy monument along the main EDSA highway, also in the capital region, where organizers hoped to draw one of the largest turnouts of anti-corruption protesters in the country in recent years.


The United States and Australian embassies issued travel advisories asking their citizens to stay away from the protests as a safety precaution.


A group of protesters waved Philippine flags and displayed a banner that read: “No more, too much, jail them,” as they marched in the Manila protest and demanded the immediate prosecution of all those involved in the scandal.


“I feel bad that we wallow in poverty and we lose our homes, our lives and our future while they rake in a big fortune from our taxes that pay for their luxury cars, foreign trips and bigger corporate transactions,” student activist Althea Trinidad told The Associated Press in Manila, where she joined a noisy crowd that police estimated at around 8,000 people by midday. “We want to shift to a system where people will no longer be abused.”


Trinidad lives in Bulacan, a flood-prone province north of Manila where officials said the most flood-control projects were being investigated either as substandard or nonexistent.


“Our purpose is not to destabilize but to strengthen our democracy,” Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said in a statement. He called on the public to demonstrate peacefully and demand accountability.


Organizers said protesters would focus on denouncing corrupt public works officials, legislators and owners of construction companies, along with a system that allows large-scale corruption, but they would not call on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to step down.


Marcos first highlighted the flood-control corruption scandal in July in his annual state of the nation speech.


He later established an independent commission to investigate what he said were anomalies in many of the 9,855 flood-control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9.5 billion) that were supposed to have been undertaken since he took office in mid-2022. He called the scale of corruption “horrible” and has accepted his public works secretary's resignation.


Public outrage erupted when a wealthy couple who ran several construction companies that won lucrative flood-control project contracts showed dozens of European and American luxury cars and SUVs they owned during media interviews. The fleet included a British luxury car costing 42 million pesos ($737,000) that they said they bought because it came with a free umbrella.


Under intense public criticism, the couple, Sarah and Pacifico Discaya, later identified during a televised Senate inquiry at least 17 House of Representatives legislators and public works officials who allegedly forced them to pay huge kickbacks so they could secure flood-control projects in an explosive testimony.


Two prominent senators were later implicated in the scandal by a former government engineer in a separate House inquiry. All those named denied wrongdoing but they face multiple investigations.


Senate President Francis Escudero and House Speaker Martin Romualdez separately stepped down in a widening fallout from the scandal, as both chambers of Congress face intensifying criticism after several legislators were implicated in the corruption allegations.


At least three government engineers were dismissed and 15 others were being investigated prior to dismissal. All face criminal complaints and their bank accounts, houses, cars and other assets will be frozen, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said.

PrimarchVulkanXVIII

We’re seeing Gen Z anti-corruption protests/revolutions across South/Southeast Asia

In the meantime, we’re seeing anti-immigration protests in the West, mainly led by Boomers and Gen X (from what I’ve seen in Australia, Netherlands and the UK)

upthetruth1

Pretty interesting that this scandal has forced the resignation of a minister, the House Speaker, and the Senate President, but the protestors are not calling for the resignation of President Marcos

Obviously individuals are not bound by their family's legacy but y'know the first President Marcos was famously corrupt

bigwang123

abrookerunsthroughit

Lighthouse_seek

I see the Roman turtle is still a valid defensive tactic

dmaynard

**BONUS**: I think this is more renaissance

https://preview.redd.it/jh5e3t9awiqf1.png?width=2000&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=eac5c15923ed5c4f5b0ac762f803b654c7a6d7b5

enXert



Please don't mistake them for actual activists. I joined the rallies and they were peaceful for most parts. People agreed to wear white for the sake of removing political parties. 

The guys in black are troublemakers. The protests have been peaceful until these youths started throwing stuff at the cops, hurting them, and burning things.

pinkpugita

Pietje_De_Leugenaar

taskforceslacker

Available-Average437

Tens of thousands protested across the Philippines over a corruption scandal involving substantial public funds, demanding accountability.

Philippines Anti-Corruption Protests

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want